


got my feet on a one-way street

by misura



Category: Betrayal at Krondor
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28897530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "You said you knew how to talk a peasant girl out of her dress."(Owyn comes to James for seduction tips. Needless to say, James is thrilled.)
Relationships: Owyn Beleforte/Gorath
Kudos: 1





	got my feet on a one-way street

Owyn cleared his throat, looking - _nerves, from our young fledgling magician? Surely not_

James tried to appear friendly, approachable. If their visit to LaMut had not been as profitable as hoped, then at least they hadn't been ambushed, poisoned, or otherwise inconvenienced.

"Um," Owyn said, striking another blow against James's sense of peace and well-being.

"Yes?" he said, trying not to sound impatient. Better, surely, to be the one trusted with Owyn's worries and concerns than Gorath, whom James still felt not entirely sure could be trusted.

He had been fairly sure Owyn did not share his reservations, though. In fact, from the looks he'd seen Owyn sneak at the moredhel from time to time, well - _we've all been young and in lust once. No harm in it, as long as it stays an unrequited crush. Nobody's yet died of a broken heart._

"What you said back there," Owyn said, and James realized he was honest-to-the-gods blushing, like a maiden. Which Owyn might be, at least when it came to having been raised a bit sheltered, and without too much knowledge of the opposite sex - or his own, for that matter.

"I said a fair number of things back there," James said, not unkindly. They were walking, with Gorath scouting ahead - _and if you don't trust him to have told you truth, should you trust him with that much?_

Owyn blushed some more, and then jutted out his chin, as if he had decided that enough was enough.

James was half-amused and half-impressed that it actually seemed to work at reducing the blushing. "You said you knew how to talk a peasant girl out of her dress."

_I was drunk and trying to sweet-talk a Tsurani into spilling some of his trade secrets._ James made a non-committal sound.

True to expectation, Owyn plowed on. "Can you teach me? I want to learn. I think it would be useful."

_How? Do you expect a peasant girl to have a magical sword or some spell scroll hidden under her clothes?_ "One, I'm not sure it's something that can be learned." There were court protocols, of course; rituals to make one's interest known.

There was poetry - _how about learning to play some love-songs?_

_Of course, then you'd need to practice. A lot. While some of us are trying to sleep and actually have an ear for music._ Not much of one, but James could tell when a bard was talented and when barding was merely a hobby at best, a way to earn some extra coin, and a cover, a disguise at worst.

Owyn scoffed, clearly unimpressed and - _alas!_ \- undeterred. "Two?"

"Two," James said, hesitating - because there always was a chance that he'd misread the situation, that Owyn had been looking without _knowing_ he'd been looking. _A chance, in other words, that you're about to make a fool of yourself._

_So what else would be new? At least Locky won't hear of it. If you're lucky._

"Two, I don't think Gorath would thank me for comparing him to a peasant girl in any way."

Owyn being Owyn, he grinned, which was not quite the response James had been hoping and/or fearing. "He could probably take you in a fair fight, huh? He's very strong and really good with a sword."

_Gods save me from young magicians and fools in love._ "He's dangerous, yes," James allowed. _Though more for what he's trying to sell us than for his skills as a fighter._

Owyn nodded happily. James breathed a sigh of relief, which was of course Owyn's cue to say, "But still, you could teach me _some_ stuff, right? I mean, it can't hurt."

_It could severely hurt my pride._ "Look, Owyn - " James started, unsure whether to take the _'a mission for the crown is no time for romance'_ approach or the equally pompous _'some things, a man must discover for himself, or else the lesson is worthless'_.

"Have you really ever actually talked a peasant girl out of her dress?" Owyn asked. He sounded -

_Yup. That's my pride hurt all right. Fairly so, perhaps._

"Not as such," James admitted. _Talked a few peasant lads into a roll in the hay, though, before discovering the stuff made my nose close up._

"Oh," Owyn said. He sounded relieved rather than disappointed, possibly at having discovered the true source of James's reluctance. "I see."

James shrugged. "Sometimes, you've got to sell people a story. Doesn't have to be a true one." And then, because he'd been young and in love/lust too once, "Sorry."

"That's all right. I'll ask Gorath," Owyn said, taking a quick sprint that made Gorath turn and scowl at him for being loud enough to have probably alerted everyone in a half mile radius to their presence.

James sighed. _I guess that could have gone better. Worse, too, though._

Then he imagined Gorath taking up Owyn on his request for talking-people-out-of-their-clothes lessons and decided that perhaps a third pair of eyes to check for any potential traps or dangers might be best after all.


End file.
